I'm so glad Ryder got traded, and therefore was not playing last night. I was ready to sit Heatly and he potted two goals. Would have been sooo pissed if I had sat him. Next question: my goalies are currently Cam Ward, Devan Dubnyk, Ray Emery, Johan Hedberg, and I have Mikka Kiprusoff on my IR. Hedberg I just picked up as a temporary option while Marty is hurt and I will probaly drop him as soon as #30 is back, I'm liking Emery more and more with Crawfords health issues in Chicago. When Kiprusoff is healthy, should I try to deal off Ward or Dubnyk for a skater? Which one should I trade, and what would be a reasonable return in a one for one trade for either of those guys?

Some Background: (head to head non-keeper league, categories are G, A, PPP, SHP, SOG, +/-, PIMS, Blocked Shots for skaters and W, L, Saves, Shut Outs, GAA, and SV% for goalies). Pretty much all starting goalies in the league are taken except for FLA and Columbus, but you can often find some good spot starts on the waiver wire, as you can see from Hedberg and Emery.

Fire0nice228 wrote:I nabbed him in a very deep league just now. The top ranked FA in the league are Andy McDonald, Drew Shore, and Danniel Winnik, so if Gagne gets top 6 and PP time he could be very helpful for me.

The most recent pickups in my league were: Tye McGinn, Matt Irwin, Joakim Andersson and Aaron Palushaj...and I had Irwin and released him earlier in the year. And Palushaj had just become available to start the season I think because the league cut down on "farm team" roster size. And I'm the one that picked up Tye McGinn. I'd kill for a free Gagne or Kindl!

And I think the best available goalie was just grabbed too...Danny Taylor.

mikey287 wrote:The most recent pickups in my league were: Tye McGinn, Matt Irwin, Joakim Andersson and Aaron Palushaj...and I had Irwin and released him earlier in the year. And Palushaj had just become available to start the season I think because the league cut down on "farm team" roster size. And I'm the one that picked up Tye McGinn. I'd kill for a free Gagne or Kindl!

And I think the best available goalie was just grabbed too...Danny Taylor.

Oh yeah, it's a different set up for sure...it's also a salary cap league, so sometimes you can find cap casualties that are lying in the weeds. In the offseason, I scooped up Paul Martin for instance. And acquired Bouwmeester for a prospect and a 3rd.

I think my league 14 teams x 65 players = 910, but that includes prospects.

I put Eric Tangradi on waivers this year after he was being scratched by Pittsburgh a ton and he was claimed by the first team in line! There are sharks in the water out there, that's for sure...

I hate when I have a good team, and get crushed by a lesser team. (2 vs 8 and I'm losing 11-2) ugh! But this particular league is only 10 teams so every team is 'stacked' and capable of putting up good numbers at any time

mikey287 wrote:Varlamov. He's been pretty good for the Avs all year, they just don't have a defense. Soon enough, something will have to give.

In Tampa, Lindback has been good, but he gives up one softy per game it seems as he's trying to figure out things...he still doesn't have 50 NHL games under his belt, nor does he have experience against this level of competition night in and night out...throwing him into the hyper season like this is tough...

Varly is better and on a team that's more likely to fix their issues sooner because they look bad...Varly faces like 50 shots per game...

Thanks. Yeah, that's what I ended up doing (albeit a little while ago). Feel a lot better about that with ROR returning and Lando back as well.

Also picked up Reimer when he was dumped while on IR (no spots in our league) after dropping Lindback, now he's good to go again too.

Also have an accepted trade that's pending approval with the dude in last place in the other division (I'm currently 1st in mine, but no thanks to goaltending) with a package deal involving Schneider to get Rask. Really hope that goes through.

Normally, it's the opposite of what I say...but I'll give the answer that I believe...Koivu is going against a team with worse goaltending and more likely to take offensive chances...Minnesota will need to score tonight to win...Washington can rope-a-dope all day with Boston and hope they only lose 1-0...which, this season, they'll be content with...

I know they're undefeated and all, but their goaltenders have the greater propensity to just let in awful goals...Koivu will probably set them up...not to mention, you get pumped up going into a game like this, you want to be the team that gives them their first loss, Chicago is getting every team's best every night...

I am fortunate to have 5 centers with another eligibility...as well as a wing that has lw and rw eligibility. When I have the tuesdays or thursdays with a ton of players, I end up doing a lot of shuffling but can almost always get everyone I want in.

Benn hurts, but it's the piece I needed to give up for Rask to stabilize my net. Centers are still in decent shape though with Datsyuk, Toews, and the aforementioned two. Don't really care about +/-, so I think J. Johnson > Doughty right now. League also counts hits, PIMs, and faceoffs.